All about the Buffalo Sabres with side orders of Amerks hockey, Sabres prospects, and local puck

Sabres Extend Enroth With Two-Year Deal

Amid some dubious tweets from his brother’s Twitter account and unconfirmed reports that KHL teams were interested in signing him, today Jhonas Enroth received a two-year extension from the Buffalo Sabres.

There was a lot of idle speculation on how the Sabres’ contract talks were proceeding with Jhonas Enroth, with his brother tweeting that time was running out for the Sabres, Swedish news outlets publishing stories about negotiation hold-ups, and a report out of Russia that he was seeking a KHL deal, but all of that is moot with Enroth now filling the role of full-time Ryan Miller back-up.

Terms are not yet known, but based on Darcy Regier’s comments about possibly playing a game or two in Rochester if need be, it’s safe to assume that Enroth’s deal is structured similarly to Matt Ellis’ (first year is two-way, second year is one-way). Money details are also unknown.

It’s widely believed that for the first time in a long time, Lindy Ruff has a back-up goaltender he can trust to carry about 25% of the starts in a season and will give him 20 or more games to play. What’s left to see is if Ruff has the same confidence in Enroth that fans do.

With Miller and Enroth the clear-cut goaltending duo in Buffalo, it’s pretty much set in stone the David Leggio and Drew MacIntyre will split time in Rochester as prospects Brad Eidsness and Connor Knapp finish up their NCAA careers while Nathan Lieuwen plays his over-age year in Kootenay. Regier revealed that now-retired Patrick Lalime was considered for a non-playing position in the organization, but instead he’ll be an Ottawa Seantors analyst for French-language network RDS.

The Sabres’ front office only has two more tasks ahead of them before they can take some time off this summer – re-sign Marc-Andre Gragnani and get back under the salary cap ceiling. With Enroth taken care of, the team will focus solely on getting Gragnani re-signed.

UPDATE 2: Leading Swedish hockey website Hockey Sverige is reporting that Enroth will be making a total of $1.35M with his new deal. Below is the short story translated into English by Google Translate:

After prolonged negotiations on a new contract came Buffalo Sabres and Jhon Enroth agree a new contract on Thursday. 23-year-old has spent most of his rookie contract through AHL games in Portland for three seasons. Last winter he got more and more chances to prove themselves in the NHL with Buffalo chose to play Enroth as the star goalie Ryan Miller’s actual place instead of Patrick Lalime, who during the season was the one who guarded båsdörren when Miller watched the bag. 14 matches was in the NHL of Enroth, who won nine games and held a zero. Enroth new contract with the Sabres extend over two years and gives him a total of $ 1,350,000, which in total will be about the same amount as he had during the rookie contract – but with the great difference that the new contract is a envägskontrakt and guarantee amounts.

Archives

CC License & Disclaimer

In accordance with the Fair Use Copyright Law, Black & Blue & Gold uses logos and registered trademarks of the National Hockey League, American Hockey League, Canadian Hockey League, and National College Athletic Association Division 1 Men's Hockey, to express our discontent, sing the praises of, satirize the dickens our of or analyze in-depth the Buffalo Sabres and the teams or players associated with the club. Images, likenesses, and whatnot on Black & Blue & Gold are used without permission, but do not interfere with said owner's profit. If you own a specific image on this site and would like it removed, please e-mail the site's administrator (blackbluegold [at] gmail [dot] com) and it'll be taken down as promptly as your request is received and processed.